Methods and systems for validating real time network communications

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems for managing network communications are described. An example resource management system includes a communications manager configured to access information regarding communication protocols used by corresponding broker systems and to provide message translations based on an origin and/or destination of the message to be transmitted. A message processor is coupled to the communications manager and is configured to serialize incoming and/or outgoing broker messages and to facilitate queuing of incoming and outgoing message traffic with broker systems. A communications configurer is configured to track one or more communication attributes of broker systems and changes thereto to ensure communications between the resource management systems are broker systems are conducted in accordance with the communication attributes of the broker systems. A communications rules provider is configured to determine which broker system is to be communicated with in order to fulfill a resource request.

PRIORITY CLAIM Applications Cross-Reference to Related

The present application claims priority from U.S. Patent Application No.60/969,884, filed Sep. 4, 2007, the content of which is incorporatedherein in its entirety.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED R&D

Not applicable.

PARTIES OF JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT

Not applicable.

REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING, TABLE, OR COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTING

Not applicable.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present disclosure relates to network communications and resourceaccess, and in particular, to methods and systems for monitoring networkcommunications status, identifying available resources, and determiningresource access status.

2. Description of the Related Art

It is becoming increasingly important for certain computer services toaccess remote data in real time. The remote data may be hosted on one ormore servers associated with one or more entities. However, oftenoverburdened or faulty network channels often hinder timely access ofsuch data.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure relates to network communications and resourceaccess, and in particular, to methods and systems for monitoring networkcommunications status, identifying available resources, determiningresource access status, and allocating resources.

An example embodiment provides a resource management system coupled to aplurality of remote systems, such as broker systems having inventoriesof resources, such as admission vouchers (e.g., event tickets). Themanagement system includes a data store that stores substantiallyreal-time status regarding the inventory of brokers associated withcorresponding broker systems. Via the resource management system, a usercan search for inventory across the inventory of a plurality of brokers,select resources (e.g., ticket inventory) of a broker, and have theresources transferred to the user. Optionally, code provided by themanagement system is transmitted to broker systems. The codecommunicates with the management system, optionally providing updatesand reserving tickets (e.g., marking them as on hold or sold) in thebroker's inventory database in response to corresponding ticket requestsfrom the management system.

In an example embodiment, a request for a first resource from a firstrequester is received at a resource management system. The system iscoupled to a plurality of remote systems managing resources. A resourcedata store stores resource identifiers and statuses that are updated insubstantially real time. A remote system controlling the first resourceis identified. Optionally, a message format understood by the remotesystem is identified based at least in part on information obtained froma remote system module, such as a plug-in. A message is formatted (inthe management system or elsewhere), optionally using a mark-up language(e.g., XML), including an identifier associated with the first resourceand an identifier associated with the first requester. The managementsystem (or another system) optionally serializes and transmits themessage over a network to the remote system. The management systemreceives an indication via the remote system (e.g., using the managementsystem provided code executed on the remote system) as to whether theremote system has placed a first resource hold or marked the resource assold or is otherwise reserved for the request.

An example embodiment provides a resource management system comprising:a communications manager configured to access information regardingcommunication protocols used by corresponding broker systems and toprovide message translations based on an origin and/or destination ofthe message to be transmitted; a message processor coupled to thecommunications manager configured to serialize incoming and/or outgoingbroker messages and to facilitate queuing of incoming and outgoingmessage traffic with broker systems; a communications configurerconfigured to track one or more communication attributes of brokersystems and changes thereto to ensure communications between theresource management systems are broker systems are conducted inaccordance with the communication attributes of the broker systems; acommunications rules provider configured to determine which brokersystem is to be communicated with in order to fulfill a first ticketrequest; a data store configured to store substantially real time statusinformation regarding ticket inventories of a plurality of brokersystems; and a search engine configured to search across ticketinventories of a plurality of broker systems.

Optionally, the resource management system is configured to communicatewith an auto-updater module associated with a first broker system tothereby facilitate software updates on the first broker system.Optionally, the resource management system is configured to communicatewith a secure addressable endpoint associated with a first broker systemthat maintains an inventory of event tickets and to obtain real-timestatus information regarding the inventory. Optionally, the resourcemanagement system is configured to receive information regardingconfigurations changes for the plurality of broker systems. Optionally,the resource management system is configured to provide informationregarding some or all of the following: the percentage and/or number ofbrokers available to accept ticket orders; the percentage and/or numberof brokers that have not reported information regarding their ticketinventory for one or more specified periods of time; the percentageand/or number of brokers that have not upgraded a first software to afirst software version; the number of brokers utilizing a first versionof the first software; a unique identifier associated with a firstbroker associated with the first broker system; a time the first brokersystem last connected to and/or provided an inventory updates to theresource management system. Optionally, the resource management systemis configured to provide information regarding the percentage and/ornumber of brokers that have not reported information regarding theirticket inventory for one or more specified periods of time. Optionally,the resource management system is configured to maintain a blacklistspecified by at least one broker that indicates by type which potentialpurchasers are not permitted to obtain resources from the at least onebroker.

An example embodiment provides method for managing networkcommunications, comprising: receiving a request for a first resourcefrom a first requester at a resource management system, the resourcemanagement system coupled to a plurality of broker systems; maintaininga resource data store storing resource identifiers and associatedstatuses updated in substantially real time based on status datareceived from the plurality of broker systems; identifying a brokersystem controlling the first resource using the resource data store;optionally identifying a message format that will be understood by thebroker system based at least in part on information obtained from amodule associated with the broker system; formatting a message inaccordance with the identified message format, the message including anidentifier associated with the first resource and an identifierassociated with the first requester; optionally serializing the messageand transmitting the serialized message over a network to the brokersystem; receiving an indication from the broker system as to whether thebroker system has placed a hold on the first resource for the firstrequester and/or marked the resource as sold for the first requester;and if an indication is received from the broker system that the brokersystem has placed a hold on the first resource for the first requesterand/or marked the resource as sold for the first requester, at leastpartly causing the first resource to be transferred to the firstrequester.

The method optionally further comprises causing at least in part a firstresource request to be formatted as an XML message. The methodoptionally further comprises causing the module to be provided via theresource management system to one or more broker systems. The methodoptionally further comprises receiving an indication as to whether atleast one resource request requested a quantity of resources thatexceeds a broker specified maximum. The method optionally furthercomprises receiving an indication as to whether at least one resourcerequest requested a quantity of resources that was less than a brokerspecified minimum. The method optionally further comprises maintaining ablacklist specified by at least one broker that indicates whichpotential purchasers are not permitted to obtain resources from the atleast one broker. The method optionally further comprises maintaining ablacklist specified by least one broker that indicates by name whichpotential purchasers are not permitted to obtain resources from the atleast one broker. The method optionally further comprises maintaining ablacklist specified by at least one broker that indicates by type whichpotential purchasers are not permitted to obtain resources from the atleast one broker. Optionally, the request specifies a quantity ofresources greater than one. The method optionally further comprisesassigning unique resource identifiers to corresponding resources fromthe plurality of broker systems. Optionally, the first resource is anevent admission voucher. The method optionally further comprises atleast partly causing at least one software application on the brokersystem to be automatically updated to enable a communication between theresource management system and the broker system. The method optionallyfurther comprises providing software that receives an indication as to aconfiguration change on at least one broker system; and at least partlycausing the module to be updated or replaced based at least in part onreceiving an indication regarding a first configuration change. Themethod optionally further comprises receiving an indication that asoftware configuration of the broker system has changed.

One embodiment provides a method for managing network communications,comprising: receiving at a resource management system over a networkfrom a plurality of broker systems substantially real-time statusinformation regarding resources managed by the broker systems;maintaining a resource data store storing resource identifiers andassociated real-time status information; monitoring the communicationstatus with the plurality of broker systems; if the communication statusof a given broker system is determined to be unsatisfactory, storing anindication that the status of resources managed by the given brokersystem is not reliable and inhibiting the offering of resources from thegiven broker; receiving a request for a first resource from a firstrequester at the resource management system; identifying a first brokersystem controlling the first resource using the resource data store;formatting a message including an identifier associated with the firstresource and an identifier associated with the first requester;transmitting the message over the network to the first broker system;receiving an indication from the first broker system as to whether thefirst broker system has placed a hold on the first resource for thefirst requester and/or marked the resource as sold for the firstrequester; and if an indication is received from the broker system thatthe broker system has placed a hold on the first resource for the firstrequester and/or marked the resource as sold for the first requester,facilitating the transfer of the first resource to the first requester.

The method optionally further comprises receiving communication protocolinformation from a plurality of broker systems, wherein at least onebroker system uses a different communication protocol than at least oneother broker system; at least partly based on the received protocolinformation, identifying a communication protocol associated with thefirst broker; and formatting the message in accordance with theidentified protocol. Optionally, the first request specifies a quantityof resources greater than one. Optionally, the message is a serializedXML message. The method optionally further comprises assigning uniqueresource identifiers to corresponding resources from the plurality ofbroker systems. Optionally, the first resource is an event admissionvoucher. By way of example, the first resource is a ticket. Optionally,the first resource is a ticket includes an association between a useridentification device and a right to access an event stored in a datastore. The method optionally further comprises at least partly causingat least one software application on the first broker system to beupdated. The method optionally further comprises receiving an indicationthat a software configuration of the first broker system has changed.Optionally, a first request for a resource includes: a ticket quantityand/or a ticket identifier. Optionally, a first request for a resourceincludes: a seat section; a starting seat; and/or an ending seat. Themethod optionally further comprises processing ticket request responsesfrom a plurality of broker systems, wherein a first plurality of ticketresponses include some or all of the following statuses: success;insufficient quantity; requested tickets do not exist; requested ticketsalready on hold. The method optionally further comprises processing atleast one response to a resource request for a ticket from at least onebroker system indicating that seats corresponding to the at least onerequest are contiguous. The method optionally further comprisesprocessing at least one response to a resource request for a ticket fromat least one broker system indicating a ticket ship date. The methodoptionally further comprises processing at least one response to aresource request for a ticket from at least one broker system indicatingan order cross reference identifier. The method optionally furthercomprises automatically tracking the configuration or a plurality ofbroker systems and facilitating the provision of software updates to thebroker systems at least partly based on configuration changes.Optionally, the management system initiates communication with the firstbroker system. The method optionally further comprises storing brokerdefined rules for a plurality of rules; receiving a second request froma second requester for a second resource, wherein the second requesteris a broker; identifying a second ticket broker that controls the secondresource; accessing a rule defined by the second broker, wherein thesecond broker defined rule indicates whether the second broker willapprove an order from another broker; and applying the second brokerrule to the second request. The method optionally further comprisesproviding information regarding some or all of the following: thepercentage and/or number of brokers available to accept ticket orders;the percentage and/or number of brokers that have not reportedinformation regarding their ticket inventory for one or more specifiedperiods of time; the percentage and/or number of brokers that have notupgraded a first software to a first software version; the number ofbrokers utilizing a first version of the first software; a uniqueidentifier associated with a first broker associated with the firstbroker system; a time the first broker system last connected to and/orprovided an inventory updates to the resource management system.

In an example embodiment, a method for managing network communications,comprises: receiving a request for a first resource from a firstrequester at a resource management system, the resource managementsystem coupled to a plurality of broker systems; maintaining a resourcedata store storing resource identifiers and associated statuses updatedin substantially real time based on status data received from theplurality of broker systems; identifying a broker system controlling thefirst resource using the resource data store; identifying a messageformat that will be understood by the broker system based at least inpart on information obtained from a module associated with the brokersystem; formatting a message in accordance with the identified messageformat, the message including an identifier associated with the firstresource and an identifier associated with the first requester, whereinthe message is intended to cause the first resource to be marked as soldand/or on hold; optionally serializing the message; transmitting themessage over a network to the broker system; receiving an indicationfrom the broker system as to whether the broker system has placed a holdon the first resource and/or marked the first resource as sold for thefirst requester; and if an indication is received from the broker systemthat a hold has been placed on the first resource for the firstrequester and/or the first resource has been marked as sold for thefirst requester, at least partly causing the first resource to betransferred to the first requester.

An example embodiment provides a method for managing networkcommunications, comprising: receiving a request for a first resourcefrom a first requester at a resource management system, the resourcemanagement system coupled to a plurality of broker systems; maintaininga resource data store storing resource identifiers and associatedstatuses updated in substantially real time based on status datareceived from the plurality of broker systems; identifying a brokersystem controlling the first resource using the resource data store;identifying a message format that will be understood by the brokersystem based at least in part on information obtained from a moduleassociated with the broker system; formatting a message in accordancewith the identified message format, the message including an identifierassociated with the first resource and an identifier associated with thefirst requester, wherein the message is intended to cause the firstresource to be marked as sold and/or on hold; at least partly causingthe message to be serialized, wherein the serialized message istransmitted over a network to the broker system; receiving an indicationvia the broker system as to whether the broker system has placed a holdon the first resource and/or marked the first resource as sold for thefirst requester; and if an indication is received from the broker systemthat a hold has been placed on the first resource for the firstrequester and/or the first resource has been marked as sold for thefirst requester, at least partly causing the first resource to betransferred to the first requester.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example environment that can be used inconjunction with processes described herein.

FIG. 2 illustrates another example environment that can be used inconjunction with processes described herein.

FIG. 3 illustrates example components that can be utilized with systemsillustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIGS. 4-6 illustrate example user interfaces.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example transaction process.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example activity flow.

FIG. 9 illustrates example services.

FIG. 10 illustrates another example inventory component.

FIG. 11 (including FIGS. 11A-B) illustrates an example transactionprocess.

FIG. 12 (including FIGS. 12A-B) illustrates an example data flow.

FIG. 13 illustrates example components.

FIG. 14 illustrates example system components.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example message flow.

FIG. 16 (including FIGS. 16A-B) illustrates example service processing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present disclosure relates to network communications and resourceaccess, and in particular, to methods and systems for monitoring networkcommunications status, identifying available resources, determiningresource access status, and allocating resources.

Certain embodiments of the present disclosure include systems andmethods for processing web-based ticket transactions in real-time.

Unless otherwise indicated, the functions described herein may beperformed by software modules including executable code and instructionsrunning on one or more general-purpose computers. The computers caninclude one or more central processing units (CPUs) that execute programcode and process data, memory, including one or more of volatile memory,such as random access memory (RAM) for temporarily storing data and datastructures during program execution, non-volatile memory, such as a harddisc drive, optical drive, or FLASH drive, for storing programs anddata, including databases, which may be referred to as a “systemdatabase,” and a wired and/or wireless network interface for accessingan intranet and/or Internet.

In addition, the computers can include a display for displaying userinterfaces, data, and the like, and one or more user input devices, suchas a keyboard, mouse, pointing device, microphone and/or the like, usedto navigate, provide commands, enter information, provide searchqueries, and/or the like. However, the systems described herein can alsobe implemented using special purpose computers, state machines, and/orhardwired electronic circuits. If the context so indicates, the term“terminal” as used herein is intended to refer to an electronic device,such as a general purpose computer, laptop, personal digital assistant,phone, interactive television, in-car entertainment/gps system, and thelike, that can interface to other electronic devices (e.g., via a wiredor wireless communications channel), and that includes a mechanism viawhich a user can provide data and/or commands (e.g., a voice recognitionsystem, a keyboard interface, a touch screen, etc.), and a mechanism viawhich information and/or instructions can be provided to the user (e.g.,a display interface, voice output system, Braille output system, etc.).While the term “server” is used herein, it is understand that otherelectronic processing devices can be used as well.

Further, the example processes described herein do not necessarily haveto be performed in the described sequence, and not all states have to bereached or performed.

Throughout the following description, the term “Web site” is used torefer to a user-accessible server site that implements basic and/orother World Wide Web standards for the coding and transmission ofdocuments, such as hypertextual documents. These standards currentlyinclude HTML (the Hypertext Markup Language), which can be used togenerate Web pages, and HTTP (the Hypertext Transfer Protocol). Itshould be understood that the term “site” or “computer system” are notintended to imply a single geographic location, as a Web or othernetwork site can, for example, include multiplegeographically-distributed computer systems that are appropriatelylinked together. Furthermore, while the following description relates toan embodiment utilizing the Internet and related protocols, othernetworks, such as a network of interactive televisions, wireless phones,and other protocols, may be used as well.

While the following discussion may often relate to computer resources(e.g., processor time, network bandwidth, database access) or tickets(e.g., a voucher to indicate that one has paid for or is entitled toadmission to a theatre, concert, amusement park, zoo, aquarium, museum,concert, or other attraction, or entitled to travel on an airplane,public transit, train, or other mode of transportation, and may indicatethat the holder is entitled to use a specific seat) in order toillustrate the use and application of the disclosed systems and methods,the disclosed systems and methods can be applied to other types ofunits, inventory, or finite resources, such as products or otherpriority rights. A ticket can be a physical ticket (e.g., with the nameof an event that the ticket can be used to gain admission to), anelectronic token (e.g., stored on a smartcard), an association stored ina database between an admission right and an identifier of the ticketpurchaser/holder (e.g., such as a credit card, driver's license, studentID card, passport) so that the identifier can be used to identify theholder and grants the holder admission to the event, a barcode imagetransmitted to a mobile communication device, etc.

Numerous specific details are described to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the disclosure. However, in certain instances,well-known or conventional details are not described in order to avoidobscuring the description. References to one or an embodiment in thepresent disclosure can be, but not necessarily are, references to thesame embodiment; and, such references mean at least one of theembodiments.

In one aspect, the present disclosure relates to a web-based ticketinventory and sales management system that ensures the availability oftickets (e.g., a concert ticket, an airplane ticket, a train ticket, abus ticket, a ticket to a sports event, a movie ticket, a theatreticket, and/or an opera ticket, etc.) purchased through the managementsystem. The management system actively maintains communications linkswith one or more ticket broker systems. Because of the “always”-activecommunications links (where a number does not have to be dialed via aPOTS phone or modem each time to establish a connection and communicatestatus updates with large time gaps between calls), changes to thestatus of tickets in a ticket broker's database are communicated to themanagement system in real-time. By ensuring that the management systemhas accurate inventory information, the management system may guaranteeto a ticket buyer that a ticket is available when a customer seeks topurchase the ticket. As used herein, “real-time” is intended to coverboth real-time and near real-time events, such that the likelihood thata purchased ticket is not available for delivery to a purchaser isappreciably small. Further, by knowing the shipping time for tickets(e.g., for physical tickets) of brokers and the date/time of thecorresponding events, the management system can ensure that tickets arenot offered and/or sold to a user if the tickets cannot be timelydelivered (e.g., where timely delivered is a threshold time prior to theevent).

In one embodiment, upon receiving a purchase confirmation (e.g., uponreceiving verification of the customer's payment information), thepurchased ticket is marked as sold in the ticket broker's system. Whenthe ticket is successfully marked as sold in the ticket broker'sdatabase, the management system receives an identifier confirming thatthe ticket status has been updated. When the management system receivesconfirmation that the ticket's availability status has been successfullyupdated, the system sends the customer a notification that they havesuccessfully purchased the ticket.

The management system may interact (directly or indirectly) with one ormore ticket brokers to provide customers with a large number ofdatabases in which to search for tickets. In other embodiments, the hostserver may further interact with sub-brokers (e.g., one or more brokersof brokers) to further expand the ticket database presented to acustomer base. A ticket broker may be a single individual, a small orlarge business, a ticket aggregator, or any other entity having one ormore tickets to sell.

In one embodiment, when the management system receives a request topurchase a ticket (e.g., the customer places the ticket in a shoppingcart, the customer begins to enter credit card information and/orinformation of other payment types), the system requests that a holdstatus be placed on the ticket by the broker having the tickets that areassociated with the purchase request. The hold status is updated in realtime for the ticket in the broker's database (e.g., to ensure the ticketis not sold to another user while the customer is completing thepurchase process). The management system can then allow the customer apre-determined amount of time (e.g., 1 minute, 2, minutes, 3 minutes, 4minutes, 5 minutes, 6 minutes, 10 minutes, or other time amount) tofinalize the transaction, such as by entering credit card information,or information of another payment means. In one embodiment, if thepayment information is not verified within the pre-determined amount oftime, the hold status can be removed from the ticket and the ticketagain made available for purchase. Once the hold status is removed fromthe ticket, the ticket may reappear in search results and can beavailable for purchase by other potential customers.

In another aspect, the present disclosure relates to a method forestablishing a communication link with a ticket broker and monitoringthe status of the communication link with the ticket broker. The statusof the communication link can be continuously or periodically monitored,for example, based on a received signal from the broker system. Thebroker system can be configured to send signals to the management systemto indicate to the management system that the communications linkbetween the broker system and the management system is still active(e.g., via an “I'm alive” signal). The signals can be sent atpre-determined intervals of time. For example, the signals can be sentfrequently (e.g., every few milliseconds or every few seconds) such thatthe management system is regularly or constantly apprised of the statusof the communications link. By monitoring the status of thecommunication link in real-time, the system can have a high degree ofconfidence that it will have received any updates that may have occurredto the inventory of tickets managed by the ticket broker.

For example, once a ticket purchase transaction is complete, the ticketstatus can be updated and reflected on the ticket supplier's database inreal time, to prevent the management system or brokerage system fromselling a ticket that is not available. Moreover, the management systemwill have a high degree of assurance that a request to the ticket broker(e.g., a transaction request) can be placed to the broker in real timeand that the request will therefore be fulfilled. If, however, adetermination is made that the communications link with a given brokeris not healthy (e.g., because a certain amount of time has elapsedwithout receiving the periodic signal from the broker system or becausethe frequency of the signal is not what is expected), the managementsystem optionally halts offering customers tickets from that brokeruntil the communications link is healthy and a ticket inventory statusupdate has been performed, to ensure that tickets that may already havebeen sold by the broker or on hold by the broker for one customer is notsold to another customer.

In one embodiment, the management system is configurable to identify andtrack changes to system configurations of the ticket broker systems. Forthe management system to identify system configurations of ticket brokersystems, the ticket broker may undergo a registration process in whichit grants access to the management system (e.g., to the broker ticketinventory data) and provides information about the ticket broker system,system updates, configuration updates, inventory information, databaseconfiguration, etc. Updated configuration information may beperiodically, automatically provided to the management system by asoftware agent that is installed on the ticket broker system. Themanagement system is optionally platform independent and can communicatesecurely with client/broker systems, which may be behind an unknownconfiguration of firewalls and/or routers.

In addition, the management system is able to communicate with brokersystems, such as to initiate transactions to purchase tickets and/or toinitiate access to the broker's database to search for a ticket based ona set of search criteria, when the signals received from the brokersystems indicate that the communications link between the managementsystem and the broker system is active and healthy.

In one embodiment, to implement the method for monitoring the status ofthe communication session with a ticket broker, code, such as an agent(e.g., a software application) can be installed on the broker system tofacilitate a registration process enabling the management system toremain in communication with the broker system. For example, the agentcan be distributed manually or automatically via the management system.The installed agent can detect changes to the system configuration onthe broker system (e.g., by comparing broker configuration informationfrom a first period of time with current broker configurationinformation, and alter its communication or access methodology to ensurethat a two-way communication link is maintained with the managementsystem. In a further embodiment, the agent installed on the brokersystem enables a two-way communication between the management system andthe broker system, regardless of the specific security implementationand/or network configuration (e.g., router, switch, and/or network hubsettings) of the broker system.

By way of further illustration, in an example embodiment, code (e.g., anagent) resides and executes on the listing broker's system contains oraccesses a database that maintains information, such as port numbers,protocols, request/response timings, and other information aboutconnecting to and communicating with the management system. Similarly,the management systems maintains a database of information about some orall of the broker connections, recording response time, protocols used,port numbers, etc. This allows for differences in computer performancebetween brokers, and in the quality of Internet service. For example,the management system can operate broker systems that have up to dateoperating systems, high speed servers and a high bandwidth network pipeto the Internet, as well as those using old operating systems, oldpersonal computers as servers, and use a dial-up connection to accessthe Internet. This enables the connection monitoring system to beadaptive. For example, one broker might be considered very slow if 5seconds goes by without a response (e.g., a broker with a broadbandconnection), whereas, for another broker (e.g., with a dial upconnection), 15 seconds could be quite good. Thus, the system can assigndifferent response threshold values to different brokers in determiningwhether there is a broker communication problem and in determiningwhether a corrective action (such as those described herein) is to betaken.

Optionally, the broker-side code stores or is otherwise aware of aplurality of communication protocols and methods for connecting to themanagement system. If a communications problem is detected (e.g., ticketstatus updates fall below a certain threshold value or data is beinglost) by the broker-side code or management system (which informs thebroker-side code of the problem) the broker-side code may automaticallyheal (“auto-heal”) its connection with the management system by tryingone or more of the alternative protocols/connection methods. Optionally,the management system (or manual intervention) may be used to reprogramthe broker-side code to use a different protocol/connection method.

Optionally, to enable the management system to communicate with brokersystems across a variety of broker protection systems (e.g., firewalls),communication between a given broker system and the management systemmay be initiated from the broker side, and a port and protocolcombination is used that is recognized as safe by the broker's firewall(if any). Thus, communications between the broker system and themanagement system will be facilitated, as the proper navigation pathfrom the broker system to the management system will be transmitted tothe management system, and the management system will know how tonavigate the firewall, routers, etc. The management system willrecognize such attempts and record the data, so it can initiate furthercommunications. Thus, in certain embodiments for certain communications,rather than initiate a given communication, the management systemprovides code to the broker-side system so that the broker-side systemcan initiate the communication stream, and so that the management systemcan communicate with the broker system, even though it is locked safelyaway behind all of its security layer(s).

Communication sessions between the management system and the brokersystem can be established over any communication protocol, since theimplementation is platform independent. For example, communication canbe established over, but not limited to, protocols of the data linklayer, the network layer, the transport layer, the session layer, and/orthe application layer. Specific protocols include, but are not limitedto, the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP), the Open SystemsInterconnection (OSI), FTP, UPnP, ISDN, SDH, L2F, L2TP, LLDP, PPP, PPTP,STP, PCP, Multi-protocol label switching (MPLS), Internetwork PacketExchange (IPS), TCP, UDP, NCP, NFS, HTTP, IRC, Jabber, LDAP, NNTP, SMTP,TPTP, etc. The management system and the broker systems may be comprisedof one or more computing devices, such as servers, desktop computer,laptop computers, etc. Various features described herein may bedistributed throughout such computing devices and may rely upon on ormore local or remote services.

In one embodiment, each broker system has a unique identifier that maybe assigned by the management system. The management system optionallystores in a database or other data store the unique identifier inassociation with the broker account information (e.g., broker name,website URL, other electronic addresses, physical address, emailaddress, contact person, financial account information, and/or otherinformation). Tickets provided by the brokers are identified by a uniqueidentifier, such that the tickets available for purchase through themanagement system are uniquely identifiable by the management system.The unique ticket identifier is optionally stored in association withthe unique broker identifier of the broker that owns/controls (e.g., asan agent or otherwise) the ticket. Systems status can be monitored inreal-time, as identified by the broker system ID, for example, thestatus of the system, the health status of the connection, transactionhistory/log, system configuration, system upgrades/changes, systemdowntime, etc. The status can be stored in a database or other datastore in association with the broker system ID, thereby allowing reportsregarding the broker system and/or communications link status to begenerated (in real time and/or periodically), enabling a system operatorto monitor the current and historical performance of a broker systemand/or communications link.

FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate examples of the management system (representedby the host server) communicating with one or more ticket broker systems(represented by the client servers or satellite broker servers) over anetwork. In the configuration illustrated in FIG. 1 (illustrating alocal installation at a broker), a management system host server 102 isconnected with a user (e.g., a ticket customer) terminal 108 (e.g., acomputer, a phone, a networked television, etc.) over a network, such asthe Internet or a wireless network. The host server 102 is alsoconnected via a network 104 to a client server 106. The configurationillustrated in FIG. 2 illustrates a configuration that may be used for alarge broker who has a number of offices around the country, or a numberof other brokers who work for the large broker, or an instance where anumber of brokers have formed a consortium. The configuration may alsobe representative of a situation where satellite brokers have anotherinstance of the host server, and additional clients, as depicted inFIG. 1. A host server 204 is connected with a user (e.g., a ticketcustomer) terminal 202 over a network, such as the Internet or awireless network. The host server 204 is also connected via a network206 to a client server 208 and one or more satellite ticket brokerservers 210. The client/broker servers include or are coupled to ticketinventory databases.

In an example embodiment, the client servers (including the brokerservers 210) are registered with the host server 204, such that the hostserver can establish a communication link and communication sessionswith the client servers. Using the communication link, ticket inventorydatabases associated with the client servers are made available to acustomer searching for tickets through the host server.

In one embodiment, a software agent is installed on some or all partnerclient servers and satellite broker servers to enable the servers tocommunicate with the host server. In addition to ensuring that acommunication link is maintained between the servers, the software agentmay determine, track, and report to the host server the different systemconfigurations of client servers and/or satellite brokers (e.g.,periodically and/or when a configuration change is detected). Havingaccurate system configurations ensures that any software updates thatmay be pushed from the host server will operate correctly on the clientservers and/or satellite brokers (e.g., where the update is selectedand/or configured based on the current broker system configuration).Thus, the software agent enables the broker/client side to beself-updating, to understand news messages, commands, protocols, and addfunctionality automatically and optionally without human intervention.

The installed software agent may also automatically detect businessrules specific to the clients and/or satellite brokers and communicatessuch business rules to the host server such that modifications to thehost server can be made to ensure compatibility with the clients. In oneembodiment, business rules and system configurations (e.g., operatingsystem, system status, hardware and/or software upgrades, firewalland/or other security system changes, router setting changes, etc.) aretracked by the software agent residing on the client server andcommunicated to the host server such that a compatible service and/orcustomer support to the client server can be provided.

In one embodiment, upon establishment of a secure and robust (e.g.,healthy) communications link between the host server and a client orsatellite broker server, a unique identifier can be assigned and/orassociated with each client or satellite broker server. The identifiermay be session dependent or independent. In addition, a ticket ID can befurther assigned to available ticket inventory accessible via the clientservers and/or satellite broker servers.

The network (e.g., networks 104, 206) over which the host server and theclient/broker server communicate, may include, but is not limited to anopen network, such as the Internet, personal area network, local areanetwork (LAN), campus area network (CAN), metropolitan area network(MAN), wide area network (WAN), wireless local area network (WLAN), or aprivate network, such as an intranet, extranet. In one embodiment,communications to and from the server agent may be achieved by a securecommunications protocol, such as secure sockets layer (SSL), transportlayer security (TLS). In addition, data and/or transactional details maybe encrypted based on any convenient, known, or to be developed manner,such as, but not limited to, DES, Triple DES, RSA, Blowfish, AdvancedEncryption Standard (AES), CAST-128, CAST-256, Decorrelated Fast Cipher(DFC), Tiny Encryption Algorithm (TEA), eXtended TEA (XTEA), CorrectedBlock TEA (XXTEA), and/or RC5, etc.

For example, a EIBO (event inventory box office point of saleapplication) application can run on a machine, such as a server, and oneor more clients connect to that machine. A given listing broker can runthe EIBO application and a client on the same personal computer. Otherlisting brokers may have a more powerful server, and the client softwareis optionally installed on various computers (e.g., a personal computer)that connect to the server.

A broker machine may run the EIBO server. The EIBO server may run thatserver as a client of an EIBO server running on the management system.Certain brokers may be large enough to need a robust POS, and may have arelationship with other brokers (e.g., sub-brokers) or with a consortiumof brokers who have pooled their resources to have a shared IT presence.A given broker system executes a point of sale (POS) system. A given POSoptionally has its own database, and a given broker loads the broker'sticket inventory local to his POS. The “large” broker or consortium,optionally loads the inventory from satellite brokers to anotherdatabase.

Thus, in an example embodiment, the management system runs an instanceof the EIBO application that “scoops” up tickets from the other brokersusing EIBO. These tickets may be conceptually in two (or more) places,and the local broker controls the inventory because it is the listingbroker who has the tickets in hand. Other brokers are retail brokers.Optionally, the management system operator does not own inventory(although optionally the operator does own inventory).

A listing broker owns tickets, while a retail broker sell tickets forothers (e.g., for the listing broker) and get tickets from the listingbroker. Retail brokers' tickets can appear on multiple retail brokerwebsites. Further, a listing broker can also be a retail broker, and canbe the same broker.

The management system can go out to the database of the local brokerthat controls the tickets requested by a customer, and mark the ticketsas sold, optionally without the intervention of the broker who actuallyowns the tickets. In the case of satellite brokers, the managementsystem can go to the large broker's server, and from there, to thesatellite broker's database server, and mark the ticket as sold.

FIG. 3 illustrates example software modules installed on a client server(e.g., client servers 106, 208) and/or a host system (e.g., managementsystem host servers 102, 204), according to one embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the software modules of the example managementsystem host include some or all of the following: a communicationsconfigurer module 316, a communications manager module 314, a messageprocessor module 318, and a communications rules provider module 320,according to one embodiment.

The message processor module 318 enables communication with user devices(e.g., customer devices) such as a laptop computer, a desktop, aprocessing unit, a SmartPhone, a BlackBerry device, a PDA, a Treo,and/or an iPhone, a networked television, other terminals, etc. In oneembodiment, the message processor module 318 is able to communicate witha plurality of protocols (e.g., any known, future and/or convenientprotocol such as, but not limited to, XML, SMS, MMS, and/or email, etc).The message processor module 318 may further optionally serializeincoming and/or outgoing messages and facilitate queuing of incoming andoutgoing message traffic.

The communications manager module 314 acts as a message translator totranslate a message from one communications protocol to another. Inaddition, the communications manager module 314 may identify differentversions of a message (message versioning) and provide relevanttranslations based on an origin and/or destination of the message to betransmitted. The communications manager module 314 optionally providesinstallation automation. The communications manager module 314communicates with the broker (including client system 310 and modules360), and can be configured to receive the signals indicating the healthstatus of an established communications link (e.g., a periodic signalfrom a broker system, which if received without dropouts, indicates ahealthy link). Authentication of customer information (e.g., logoninformation, payment information) can also be processed, received, orverified by the communications manager module 314.

The result of the authentication process can be further relayed by thecommunications manager module 314 to the relevant recipient once theauthenticity of the customer has been determined. In one embodiment, thecommunications manager module 314 can authenticate the client systemserver and identify any configuration changes to the client server suchthat automatic updates and be provided to the client. For example, thecommunications manager module 314 can facilitate the installation ofsoftware on the client end for service upgrades or system supportpurposes that correspond to the client system's current configuration.

The host server includes a communication configurer module 316 fortracking the attributes of a client system needed to establish acommunication session. In one embodiment, the communication configurermodule 316 further ensures that the communication between the host andthe client system 310 are conducted in accordance with the identifiedcommunication attributes and/or rules. The communication configurermodule 316 maintains an updated record of the communication attributesof one or more client systems should a change occur at the clientsystem. In one embodiment, the communications configurer module 316ensures that the communications manager module 314 can deliver thepayload provided by the message processor module 318 to the clientsystem (e.g., by ensuring that the correct protocol corresponding to theclient system is used).

The host server may further include the communications rules providermodule 320. In one embodiment, the communications rules provider module320 determines which client system (e.g., which broker system) that thehost server needs to communicate with in order to fulfill a particularrequest. The request may or may not be triggered by a customer. Forexample, the request can be to search a broker database for ticketsbased on criteria submitted by a potential customer (e.g., event type,event name, venue name, date, number of seats, price range of tickets,seating location, and/or additional/different criteria). The request mayalso be to purchase a ticket from a relevant ticket broker. Thecommunications rules provider module 320 may track attributes of thebroker system and/or the nature of the request, to determine whichbroker system to transmit the request to (e.g., based on inventories,time to shipment, and/or ticket prices of the brokers).

In addition to maintaining an association between tickets and brokers,the communications rules provider module may also enforce various rulesassociated with the sale of tickets by brokers. In an exampleembodiment, a given ticket in the management system is associated with aunique identifier (e.g., assigned by the management system, the broker,or other entity), and a given ticket tracked by the system may beassociated with a particular ticket seller.

By utilizing the ticket and ticket seller identifiers, various rules maybe imposed by the communication rules provider module governing the saleof each ticket (e.g., to whom the tickets can be sold (wherein certainusers (e.g., as identified via a purchaser identifier/contactinformation), such as those on a blacklist stored in memory (e.g.,specified brokers and/or retail customers), are barred from purchasingtickets; wherein certain types of users, such as other brokers or retailcustomers, are barred from purchasing tickets, etc.), who is permittedto resell tickets, the maximum number of tickets a broker or other buyeris permitted to purchase, etc.). For example, Ticket Broker A may allowTicket Broker C and Ticket Broker D to sell Ticket Broker A's tickets,but may not allow Ticket Broker B to sell Ticket Broker A's tickets. Thecommunication rules provider ensures that data is not sent to partiesnot authorized to receive it (e.g., to control those brokers that can becommunicated with and which messages are sent).

The communications rules provider module 320 may also impose otherresale rules that depend on the type of ticket, the day of ticket, andother factors. Ticket brokers often provide tickets for sale atdiffering tiers (e.g., orchestra, box, upper level, etc.). The sale oftickets of differing tiers can be restricted based on the location ofthe seating, the time of the show, the day of the show, etc. Forexample, a ticket supplier may prefer to sell premiere tickets (e.g.,front row seats, orchestra seats) through the supplier's owndistribution channels rather than through other ticket brokers.Similarly, a ticket supplier may prefer to sell tickets to certainartists (e.g., Sting concerts, Rolling Stone concerts) through theticket supplier's own distribution channels, whereas tickets to otherartists can be sold by other ticket brokers. Thus, a given ticketidentifier may be stored in association with an indication as to who theticket can and/or cannot be sold to. In addition or instead, a recordmay be stored in a data store for a given artist and/or venue indicatingwhether tickets for the artist and/or venue can be sold to otherbrokers, retail customers, etc. Similarly, a ticket supplier may decidethat tickets to events on or close to certain holidays should not bemade available for sale by other ticket brokers. Other types ofrelational rules and/or preferences between ticket brokers, themanagement system, and customers may be configured through various rulesimplemented by the communications rules provider module 320.

The software modules 360 residing on the client server include, but arenot limited to, an auto-updater module 306, a message manager module304, and/or a control processor module 302. Together, these modulescomprise a secure addressable endpoint agent 308 that acts as a clientside adapter and enables the host server to interface with the clientsystem 310 in a secure and reliable fashion.

The auto-updater module 306 automatically updates the agent software toenable the agent software to understand new, messages, commands, and/orprotocols, based on a system configuration/change initiated on the hostserver or the client server. The auto-updater module may also installnew or updated software to provide support and/or enhancements, based ona system configuration change detected on the client server. Systemconfiguration changes that would necessitate changes to the agentsoftware can include, but are not limited to, a software/hardwareupgrade, a security upgrade, a router configuration change, a change insecurity settings, etc. For example, if the auto-updater module 306determines that a communication link with the host server has been lostfor a pre-determined amount of time, the auto-updater module 306 canobtain system configuration information about the client server to helpre-establish the communication link. Such information may include newsettings/configurations on one or more hardware devices or new orupgraded software on or connected to the client server. Thus, theauto-updater module 306 can detect or be informed by other software whenthere is a new version of agent software with additional functionalityand/or deficiency/bug corrections or when there is a change with respectto the client software, hardware, communications channel, etc.), andperform updates accordingly.

Based on the newly-obtained system configuration for the client server,the auto-updater module 306 can cause a new communication link to bere-established with the host server. In one embodiment, uponestablishment of the communication link, system configurationinformation about the client server can also be provided to the hostserver to facilitate the connection to or downloading of software to theclient server.

In one embodiment, when a poor health signal is detected by the hostserver (e.g., when the health signal is only sporadically received butthe communication link is not necessarily lost), the host server cansend a command to the auto-updater module 306 to instruct theauto-updater 306 to obtain system configuration information about theclient server. The updated system configuration information may be usedin an attempt to revive the unhealthy communications link (e.g., byresending a resource request). For example, the code running at thelisting broker's site is optionally installed with administratorprivileges, which enables the code to manage the broker's server. Thecode utilizes the appropriate system calls for the operating system tofix or reestablish communications. By way of example and not limitation,model and driver information is optionally obtained for routers in thesystem in order querying them. By way of further example, if the codedetermines that a new brand of router has been installed, it can adaptto that change, or to the change in network configuration, or otherchanges.

Instead or in addition, the host server (e.g., via the communicationsmanager 314) can send specific instructions to the auto-updater 306 tospecify tests or checks to be performed on the client server todetermine the changes to the system configurations (e.g., byautomatically performing or requesting an inventory check of systemhardware and/or software). For example, the components involved in thechain of hops through a network can be queried and analyzed. Thus, forexample, if a new ISP (Internet service provider) is being used and themanagement system traffic is being filtered, or a new router wasinstalled and the software needs to change its configuration, or ifsomeone made a change to the operating system that affects port themanagement system is using to communicate, the management system (oroperator) can communicate with the ISP, change it back, or choose from anew available port, respectively.

The specific tests may be necessary to help establish the communicationlink, if, for example, the automatic tests fail to provide sufficientinformation for the communication link to be re-established, ifadditional information is needed about a particular configurationchange, and/or if the client system is not initially supported by theauto-updater 306, etc.

The control processor module 302 provides message processing formessages received from the host server. For example, the controlprocessor module 302 may identify whether the message is a request toaccess the inventory and/or to determine the availability of aparticular ticket. The control processor module 302 can further identifya request to place a ticket on hold, or to mark a ticket as having beensold. In some embodiments, the control processor module 302 can identifya request to mark a ticket as available after the ticket was placed onhold or marked as sold.

The secure addressable endpoint agent 308 further includes a messagemanager module 304 that facilitates communication with the client systemdatabase, point-of-sale, and/or other subsystems owned and managed bythe client. The control processor 302 converts commands received fromthe host server into commands that interoperate with the client system310 and various subsystems.

The secure addressable endpoint agent 308 further generates a healthsignal that is transmitted to the host server for monitoring. The healthsignal is optionally a short message of a few bytes or many bytes inlength that may be transmitted on a frequent basis (e.g., every fewmilliseconds or seconds). The communications manager 314 on the hostserver monitors the health signal provided by the agent to ensure thatthe communication link between the host server and the client server isstill operational.

Additional or fewer modules can be included on the client side or thehost side without deviating from the spirit of this disclosure. Notethat the modules could be implemented in one or more instances ofsoftware. The functionalities described herein need not be implementedin separate modules, for example, one or more functions, such as theconfigurer module and the communications manager module 314, can beimplemented in one software instance and/or one software/hardwarecombination. Other combinations are similarly be contemplated.

Example user interfaces, such as those configured to manage clientservers (e.g., broker servers), according to one embodiment will now bedescribed.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example dashboard user interface that providessystem status and versioning of brokers. The example dashboard providesa list of brokers (e.g., that hold tickets that are to be resold and/orthat that mediate between a buyer and a seller) connected to themanagement system and showing broker status, including, but not limitedto, the last connection time between the management server and eachbroker server (optionally, the connection time is color-coded based onlength of connection duration), the version of software currentlyinstalled on the client server, the version of the agent (e.g., thesecure endpoint) that is being executed on the client server, and theversion of plug-in operating on the client. Further, the activationstatus of the client server is also shown to indicate whether the clientserver is able to participate in real-time transactions. Summaryinformation is also provided on the dashboard to indicate the totalnumber of broker servers having active communication links that areavailable for real-time communication, as well as the number of brokerservers having broken communication links that are not available forcommunication.

In the illustrated example, the following is calculated (whereapplicable) and reported:

the percentage and number of brokers (e.g., the brokers authorized toconnect to the system and to make their inventory available) connected(or accessible) and ready to accept orders;

the percentage and number of brokers activated for full automationorders (e.g., where the listing broker does not have to be manuallycontacted in order to place a ticket order or to confirm that a givenlisted ticket is still available);

the percentage and number of brokers that have not reported (e.g., theiravailable ticket inventory) for one or more specified periods of time(e.g., 5 minutes, a day, and/or other specified time periods);

the percentage of brokers and number that have not upgraded yet (e.g.,upgraded software to the most recent applicable version of software);

the total number of brokers;

the number of brokers that are utilizing a given version(s) of software(e.g., EIBO versions (Event Inventory Box Office point of saleapplication), Agent versions, etc.);

In a table format (although other formats can be used), for a givenbroker:

the identifier (a unique number or alphanumeric ID) associated with acorresponding broker;

the broker name;

the data/time the broker system last connected to and/or providedinventory updates to the host system.

the versions of various software on the client server;

an activation indication (where, in order to ensure that access to themanagement system is not granted to a malicious person or broker, abroker needs to first request activation, and an authorized managementsystem operator grants such access, and then allows traffic from the“activated” broker. Optionally, in order for the management system toaccess a given broker system, the broker has to agree to accept suchconnection. This process is in place to better ensure that noconnections are set up that both parties haven't first agreed to. Anactivation indication can include a written agreement, a verbal and/orwritten order, and/or a flag stored in a database.)

Optionally, the foregoing data is automatically updated periodicallyand/or when a specified event occurs (e.g., a user activating a refreshcontrol).

FIG. 5 illustrates an example dashboard user interface that provides areport on reasons orders/ticket requests failed. This example provides asummary of errors (e.g., business rules failures) that have beenidentified and/or are being remedied in the system, optionally for aspecified user(s) or system(s) over a specified period of time (e.g.,the current month, the current week, the current day, the current hour,the last month, the last 3 months, the last 6 months, etc.). A userinterface is provided (e.g., via a menu or otherwise) via which the usercan specify the time period and/or the types of errors that are to bereported. For example, the errors may be business rules related,including application rules related, communication related, and/or othertypes of errors.

In the illustrated example, the failures are reported via a bar graph,wherein different color or otherwise distinguished bars correspond todifferent errors. Other formats can be used (e.g., pure text, pie chart,graph, etc.). In addition, the number of errors for a given type oferror and for the total number of errors are reported numerically.Examples of the types of business rules failures (e.g., specified by abroker/client) are as follows, although fewer, additional, or differenterrors can be reported:

Address contains a POBox (where a rule specifies that a user cannot usea POBox as a mailing address and/or a billing address);

Incorrect discount price (e.g., where the user entered an incorrect/notapplicable discount price or coupon);

Ticket already locked/on hold (e.g., where another user is somewhere inthe midst of a purchase process for a ticket specified in an order sothat the specified ticket is unavailable to others, but may becomeavailable if the purchase process is not completed);

Ticket already sold (where a ticket specified in an order is alreadysold);

Order value is higher than a specified amount;

Unknown error;

Shipping address does not match billing address (where the business rulespecifies the shipping address and billing address need to be the same);

EIBO processing timeout;

Invalid country (e.g., where the customer location is in a country thatthe client/broker does not service);

Payment contains a gift card (e.g., where the rule specifies that giftcards cannot be used to pay for tickets);

Insufficient quantity (e.g., where the rule specifies that a minimumnumber of tickets need to be ordered);

Exceeds maximum quantity (e.g., where the rule specifies that a givenuser cannot order more than a specified maximum number of tickets for aspecified event or overall);

Cannot split ticket group (e.g., where user is try to order fewer thanall of the tickets in a specified set of tickets that a rule specifiesneed to be purchased as a group);

Credit not preauthorized;

Client offline (e.g., where the broker client is offline or otherwiseunavailable);

Client error;

Not enough time to ship (e.g., not enough time to ship event ticketsbeing ordered so that they will arrive sufficiently prior to the event(e.g., at least one day, two days, or other specified period of time)).

FIG. 6 illustrates an example performance report of a broker over aspecified period of time (e.g., real-time individual broker performancefor a specified year, month, week, day, etc.). A user interface isprovided (e.g., via a menu or otherwise) via which the user can specifythe time period and/or the types of performance that are to be reported.In the illustrated example, a plot of the average response time (inmilliseconds) over a pre-determined period of time to initiate real-timetransactions with the brokers. The number of transactions over which thebroker performance is averaged is also reported. The report isoptionally updated in substantially real time (e.g., automaticallyand/or in response to activation of a refresh control). Optionally,response times (e.g., average response times) that exceed a specifiedthreshold are highlighted/emphasized via an icon, color coding, orotherwise to more readily visually indicate a performance problem thatneeds to be remedied and/or to determine with a broker should beexcluded from participating in the future.

Using the various dashboards, performance issues can be identified fromplotting average and/or median response times (e.g., of theclient/broker server), with or without knowing the specific softwareand/or hardware settings and configurations of the client server.

Additional example dashboards will now be described. An exampledashboard shows the percent of tickets sold in a specified time period(e.g., the current year, month, day) using a given process, such as theprocess illustrated in FIG. 8). This enables a user to determine theeffectiveness of a given process for enabling a purchaser to purchasetickets from brokers as compared to other processes.

Another example dashboard reports on the percent of total inventory thatis eligible to be sold using a given process, such as that illustratedin FIG. 8 (e.g., the inventory of brokers who agree to participate inthe process and are “activated”).

Another example dashboard reports on the success rate per broker (e.g.,the success rate of completing a ticket purchase). This dashboard can beused to identify suspicious cases where the management systemcontinually attempts to fulfill orders using an inventory databaseassociated with a broker that is supposed to have real-time inventorystatus, but where the orders are denied for various reasons, such as theticket is on hold (e.g., which may indicate that the correspondingbroker is not providing real-time inventory data).

Another example dashboard reports on the amount of time that a broker isconnected to the management system over a specified period of time(e.g., the last 24 hours, week, month, year, or from first activation).This dashboard can provide an indication as to which brokers arefrequently unavailable and when (e.g., because the operator has gonehome for the weekend, and shut off their database), wherein theunavailability prevents the sale of the broker's ticket by themanagement system during the downtime.

Another example dashboard reports on communications failures (e.g., toidentify where someone's ISP is having problems, or where a broker'sserver is running out of disk space, or memory) so that the problem canbe addressed.

Referring now to FIG. 7, an example order/purchase activity flow diagramis illustrated. The order flow is optionally used in conjunction withcertain embodiments, but other order flows can be used as well, and theinvention is not limited to use with a particular order flow. Theillustrated process is optionally performed in real time orsubstantially real time. At state 1, a user, such as a ticket customer,accesses a form, such as web page form hosted by the management systemhost server discussed above. The user interface optionally presents oneor more listings of events (e.g., concerts, sporting events, movies,etc., optionally organized into corresponding categories) and/or asearch user interface via which the user can search for events and/ortickets for one or more events.

For example, the search user interface optionally includes one or moresearch fields. By way of illustration, a search field is provided (e.g.,provided as a drop down menu listing one or more predefined terms and/oras a blank field via which the user can type in one or more terms) thatcan be used to specify a geographical area (e.g., city, state, zip code,etc.). In addition or instead, a search field is provided (e.g.,provided as a drop down menu listing one or more predefined terms and/oras a blank field via which the user can type in one or more terms) thatcan be used to specify an event type (e.g., music, music-type (e.g.,classical, rock, jazz, country, children's, pop, etc.), sports, theater,etc.). In addition or instead, a search field is provided (e.g.,provided as a drop down menu listing one or more predefined terms and/oras a blank field via which the user can type in one or more terms) thatcan be used to specify an artist, team, movie, play and/or venue.

The user can activate a search control (e.g., a dedicated searchinitiate control, a return key, etc.), and the host system, using alocal or remote search engine, then performs a search using the searchcriteria specified by the user, and identifies corresponding matches (ifany) from the broker inventories as similarly discussed elsewhereherein. The search results are then presented to the user (e.g., listingevents and/or event tickets). The search listing can include some or allof the following types of information, optionally in a table format:

Event name;

Date/time

Venue/Venue location;

Price per ticket;

Seat section;

Seat Row;

Number of tickets available;

Minimum tickets that can be purchased;

Maximum tickets that can be purchased;

Form of ticket (e.g., physical ticket, electronic ticket, etc.).

The search listing can be ordered from least expensive to mostexpensive, most expensive to least expensive, based on section, thenumber of available consecutive/contiguous seats, or otherwise.Optionally, a user interface is provided via which the user can specifythe ordering (e.g., by clicking on a corresponding column heading).Optionally, tickets that have a hold placed on them (e.g., becauseanother user is in the process of potentially purchasing the tickets)are excluded from the search results. Optionally, tickets that have ahold placed on them are included in the search results, but with anindication (e.g., the phrase “hold” and/or a graphical hold icon) thatthe tickets are on hold, optionally, with an indication as to when thehold period will expire if the tickets are not successfully purchased bythe user from whom the tickets are on hold. Optionally, the hold statusis updated in substantially real time to indicate if the hold status haschanged. The user then selects a ticket (or a set of tickets).Optionally, the user can narrow the search via one or more search fields(e.g., via which the user can specify quantity, minimum price, and/ormaximum price).

Once the user selects a ticket (or tickets), the user activates a“continue” control. An order form is presented via which the user canenter name, contact information (e.g., shipping address, paymentinformation (e.g., payment instrument information, such as credit cardnumber, debit card number, expiration date, billing address, etc.)). Ifthe user already has an account with a service associated with the hostserver, the user optionally logs in (e.g., by providing a passwordand/or user ID), and the user's shipping and/or billing information isaccessed from a customer database.

At state 2, a pre-authorization process is performed. For example, theprocess optionally determines if the user has already been preauthorizedto make the purchase using data stored in a customer database.Optionally, information provided by the user via the order form isinspected and validated (e.g., the payment information is checked todetermine if is valid, that the payment instrument has not expired, thatthere adequate funds/credit to cover the purchase, etc.). At state 3,the terms and conditions relating to the purchase are presented to theuser. If the user indicates acceptance of the terms and conditions(e.g., by activating an “accept” type button), the order is placed andthe process proceeds to state 4. At state 4 a rules check (e.g., a rulethat specifies in which states tickets can or cannot be sold, the numberof tickets that can be sold, that specifies how much lead time is neededin order to ship a ticket so that it reaches the purchaser prior to theevent, etc.) is performed (although this process is optionally performedat an earlier or later state), and the data entered by the customer isvalidated. If the rules are satisfied and data validated, the processproceeds to state 5, and the data is sent to the listing brokersupplying the ticket being purchased (e.g., to the listing brokerssoftware instance of the agent). EIBO rules (e.g., specified by thelisting broker, such as “do not sell the last 2 tickets for a specifiedevent”, “do not sell any tickets that are priced greater than aspecified threshold value, do not sell to one or more specifiedpersons/entities) are checked, and acknowledgement of the purchaserequest is returned to the host server, the ticket is marked as sold (toensure, for example, that the ticket is not inadvertently sold again bythe broker), the brokers ticket inventory count is decremented by anamount corresponding to the number of tickets being sold, and aconfirmation of the sale is transmitted to the host server. At state 6,the host server database is synchronized with the ticket broker databaseto update the inventory data and corresponding status. Optionally, suchsynchronization is performed periodically (e.g., every 30 seconds, 1minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 4 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 30minutes, or other regular or irregular period) and/or in response to anaction (e.g., a ticket purchase, a ticket search, etc.). At state 7, aconfirmation is returned by the broker system to the management system,and from the management system to the customer.

FIG. 8 illustrates another example activity flow. The activity flow isproduct non-specific and optionally utilizes open standards. The flowillustrates how someone with access to a web browser (or other userinterface that can access network resources) can buy tickets from amiddleman, such as the operator of the management system, and how themiddleman can acquire the desired inventory for the user in a real-timetransaction from one or more brokers. At state 802, a user (e.g., aretail customer/individual customer) places an order (e.g., a ticketrequest), which at state 804 is transmitted over the Internet via asecure protocol (e.g., https (Hypertext Transfer Protocol over SecureSocket Layer)). The order may specify one or more specific tickets(e.g., reserved seat tickets for an event that specify the seatnumber/row/section or general admission/non-reserved seating tickets) oran acceptable quality, price range, or seating section as specified bythe customer. At state 806, the order is received at a point of salesystem (e.g., a website hosted by the management system host server or aticket broker with their own inventory of tickets or other retailbroker), which is coupled to an orders database and an inventorydatabase.

The point of sale system identifies a listing broker thatmatches/corresponds to the order (e.g., by examining the inventorydatabase which optionally contains substantially real time updates ofbroker vendors). At state 808, the point of sale system transmits theorder data (e.g., including some or all of the following: number oftickets requested, event data/time, broker price (with discount wereappropriate, wherein the discount may be an agreed upon discount fromthe broker's list ticket price that is granted to the management systemoperator, wherein the system operator may charge the purchaser the listprice and retain the discount amount as payment for facilitating thetransaction), ticket group identifier (used by the point of sale systemto identify ticket inventory), point of sale ticket identifier, eventname, venue name, seat row, seat section, starting seat, ending seat,purchaser identifier (e.g., contact information of purchaser, a brokeridentifier code if the purchaser is a broker, etc.), and listing brokeridentifier to a message creation module which creates a message topurchase the ticket(s) from the corresponding listing broker using someor all of the order data. At state 812, the message is received by aparser module. The parser module formats the ticket order message as anXML formatted buy tickets request message (although other formats,including format using other markup languages can be used), wherein theticket order message is encoded and serialized. At state 814, themessage is queued and transmitted to over a network to another point ofsale system (e.g., associated with the listing broker).

For example, the XML formatted message is transmitted using a secureprotocol over the Internet (or other network) to a module which, atstate 816, receives and dequeues the tickets request message on thelisting broker server. At state 818, the message is then processed by aparser module that parses and deserializes the message. At state 820,the message is then provided to the listing client/broker plugin (e.g.,a piece of code that knows how to talk to the listing broker's POS,and/or assists with the process, so that a call can be mode to the localPOS to pass the correct parameters).

At state 822, the order message is received by the listing broker, andthe listing broker server processes the ticket request and determines ifa corresponding ticket is available (e.g., not sold, locked, and/or noton hold) by examining the tickets and associated ticket status (e.g.,available, on hold, locked, sold) via the listing broker inventorydatabase. At state 824, if the ticket is available, the broker systemmarks the ticket as sold in the listing broker database (or optionallyheld if the user payment information has not yet been verified), makesthe tickets unavailable to others, sells the ticket, and transmits amessage via the plug-in indicating that the order wassuccessful/accepted. If the ticket is not available, a request failuremessage is transmitted via the plug-in.

By way of example, a ticket order response message can include some orall of the following:

a result element (with a true value if the ticket request is confirmed,and a false if the request is not confirmed);

a message element (e.g., a free form message, which for example can beused for diagnostic information regarding errors or to provide anexplanation as to an inability to fulfill a ticket order);

a status code (e.g., with a value of: success, unknown client error,insufficient quantity, tickets do not exists, cannot split ticket,incorrect discount price, ticket already on hold, etc.);

is consecutive seating (e.g., with a value indicating whether seating iscontiguous);

seat row;

seat section;

starting seat;

ending seat;

ship date (estimated ship date to user);

order cross reference identifier/number (foreign system order referencenumber).

At state 826, the message from the plug-in is then processed by a parserthat encodes and serializes the success or failure message as an XMLformatted message. At state 828, the XML formatted message is thenqueued and transmitted using a secure protocol over the Internet (orother network) to a module on the host server which, at state 830,receives and dequeues the tickets request message. At state 832, themessage is then processed by a parser module which parses/decodes anddeserializes the message. At state 834, the success/failure message isthen transmitted to the point of sale system (e.g., of the retailbroker). The point of sale then completes the sales process (if thetickets were available) and transmits a sales confirmation to the user(e.g., via a web page, email, SMS message, or otherwise), and updatesits inventory and order database accordingly. If the ticket order wasnot successful, the user is so informed.

FIG. 9 illustrates another example activity flow. At state 1, a user(e.g., a retail customer/individual customer) places an order (e.g., aticket request) over the Internet via a secure protocol (e.g., https).The order may specify one or more specific tickets (e.g., reserved seattickets for an event that specify the seat number/row/section or generaladmission/non-reserved seating tickets) or an acceptable quality, pricerange, or seating section as specified by the customer. At state 2, theorder is received at a point of sale system (e.g., a ticket brokerserver associated with a retail broker), which is optionally coupled toan orders database and an inventory database of the broker.

The point of sale system identifies a listing broker thatmatches/corresponds to the ticket request (e.g., by examining theinventory database which optionally contains substantially real timeupdates of broker vendors to determine which broker holds/controls thetickets). At state 3, the point of sale system initiates a ticketrequest and transmits the order data (e.g., including some or all of thefollowing: number of tickets requested, event data/time, broker price(with a discount the listing broker is providing the management systemoperator, were appropriate), ticket group identifier (used by the pointof sale system to identify ticket inventory), point of sale ticketidentifier, event name, venue name, seat row, seat section, startingseat, ending seat), and listing broker identifier to a parser module,which, formats the ticket order message as an XML formatted buy ticketsrequest message (although other formats, including format using othermarkup languages can be used), wherein the ticket order message isencoded and serialized and transmitted to over a network to anotherpoint of sale system (e.g., associated with the listing broker).

At state 5, a module receives and dequeues the tickets request messageon the listing broker server. The message is then processed by a parsermodule which parses/decodes and deserializes the message. The message isthen provided to the listing client/broker system (e.g., a plugin whichenables the listing broker to retrieve and send messages).

At state 6, the listing broker server processes the order and determinesif a corresponding ticket is available (e.g., not sold, not locked,and/or not on hold) by examining the tickets and associated ticketstatus (e.g., available, on hold, locked, sold) via the listing brokerinventory database. If the ticket is available, the broker system marksthe ticket as sold in the listing broker database (or optionally on holdif addition confirmation is needed from the management system, such asconfirmation that the user's payment instrument has been verified, atwhich point the ticket will be marked as sold), makes the ticketsunavailable to others, sells the ticket, and at state 7 transmits amessage intended for the management system host processor indicatingthat the order was successful/accepted. If the ticket is not available,a failure message is transmitted.

At state 8, the message from the plug-in is then processed by a parserthat encodes and serializes the success or failure message as an XMLformatted message. At state 9, the XML formatted message is then queuedand transmitted using a secure protocol over the Internet (or othernetwork) to a module that receives and dequeues the tickets requestmessage. At state 10, the message is then processed by a parser modulewhich parses/decodes and deserializes the message. The success/failuremessage is then transmitted to the point of sale system (e.g., of theretail broker). The point of sale then completes the sales process (ifthe tickets were available) and transmits a sales confirmation to theuser (e.g., via a web page, email, SMS message, or otherwise), andupdates its inventory and order database accordingly. If the ticketorder was not successful, the user is so informed.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example inventory system. An inventory controller1002 is configured to transmit the inventory local identifier andquantity to a point of sale system or inventory service 1004 (e.g., thatof an associated listing broker). The point of sale or inventory system1004 is configured to process orders sent via the inventory controllerand determine the availability of tickets in an inventory database 1006.The point of sale or inventory system 1004 is further configured toreport a successful order (e.g., report inventory held) if the requestedtickets are available, and a failure if the tickets are not available.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example transaction process. At state 1102, theprocess begins. At state 1104, an order form hosted on a website server(e.g., a host server associated with a service, such as a retailbroker/aggregator, that provides access to tickets of a plurality ofticket brokers) is accessed by a user via a user terminal (e.g., acomputer, phone, television, etc.). The user places a request or orderfor one or more tickets (e.g., specific reserved seat tickets or anacceptable quality, price range, or seating section). If a specificticket is being ordered a unique identifier associated with the ticket(TicketID) is used to lookup (e.g., in a host server inventory database)who is the listing broker that owns/controls the ticket. At state 1106,a determination is made (e.g., by the host server) as to whether alisting broker is participating in real-time ordering with the hostserver. If the listing broker is participating in real-time orderingwith the host server, the process proceeds to state 1118, and theaddress of the broker is determined (e.g., using an electronic addressdatabase that lists the listing brokers address (e.g., URL)). At state1120, a ticket group identifier (TicketGroupGUID, which may be anidentifier assigned by the management system for a group of ticketsoffered by a ticket holder via the listing broker or owned outright bythe listing broker) is retrieved from the host server inventory databaseusing the ticket identifier (TicketID) assigned by the listing broker. Amessage, including the ticket group identifier (TicketGroupGUID) and theticket quantity being ordered is transmitted to the listing brokersystem. Optionally, the TicketID and TicketGroupGUID may be the samevalue.

At state 1124, the listing broker system determines that the listingbroker has access to a sufficient quantity of appropriate tickets tosatisfy the request ticket quantity (e.g., using the ticket groupidentifier (TicketGroupGUID) as a search key). If the listing brokerdoes not have access to a sufficient quantity of tickets, the processproceeds to state 1134 and a failure message is returned.

If, at state 1124, the listing broker system determines that the listingbroker has access to a sufficient quantity, the process proceeds tostate 1126, and a determination is made as to whether the requestedquantity is less that the ticket group quantity (associated with theTicketGroupGUID). If the requested quantity is less that the ticketgroup quantity, the process proceeds to state 1128 and the ticket groupis split into two or more groups, where one group is sufficient tosatisfy the requested quantity. At state 1130, the requested tickets aremarked as being held for the user. At state 1132, a determination ismade as to whether any failures occurred (e.g., business rulesfailures). If no error occurred, a success message is returned. If anerror occurred, a failure message is returned.

At state 1112, a determination is made as to whether the purchase wassuccessful. If not, the user is optionally so informed (e.g., via awebpage in substantially real time and/or via an email, SMS message,etc.), and the process ends at state 1110. If the purchase wassuccessful, the process proceeds to state 1114, and a flag is set in thehost server database indicating that the real time order has beenplaced. At state 1116, a notification is transmitted to the user (e.g.,in substantially real time via a web page, or via an email, SMS message,instant message or otherwise) confirming the ticket purchase. At state1110, the process ends.

If, at state 1106, a determination is made that the listing broker isnot participating in real-time ordering with the host server, theprocess proceeds to state 1108 and a non-real time order process isperformed, wherein the order is placed with the listing broker at alater time or at the current time, but where the order processing takesplace at a later time or over an extended period of time. The processthen proceeds to state 1110, and the process ends.

FIG. 13 illustrates example components, although fewer, additional, anddifferent components can be used. Back office functions 1302 areimplemented via order management, inventory management, paymentprocessing, and tax calculation modules. Integrated informationcomponents 1204 include an inventory database (e.g., including ticketinventory data obtained in substantially real time from a plurality ofbrokers). Example customer facing business components include a browseinventory module (enabling a user to browse through ticket inventorsand/or search for tickets), an order placement module (via which a usercan place an order for tickets), and an order tracking module (whichtracks the order process and provide notifications to the user regardingthe success or failure of an order, as well as delivery/shippinginformation).

Channel components (communication mediums via which the system interactswith a user) include phone (e.g., human and/or automated interactivevoice response systems), email, fax, point of sale, and Internetapplications via which a user can access the system, search for tickets,place ticket orders, and receive order status information.

A ticket order from a user (e.g., an individual user or a broker) may beplaced via a channel, (e.g., fax, phone, point of sale terminal,Internet, etc.) for one or more tickets associated with correspondingunique identifiers. The order is received by the common businessservices (e.g., the order management module. The order management modulecan request the inventory management module to place a hold on therequested tickets. The inventory management module accesses the retailinventory database(s) (e.g., those of the listing broker(s)),authenticates the ticket identifiers, and instructs the associated oneor more retail POS/broker system to place a hold on the tickets. Forexample, the inventory management system passes order information (e.g.,client ID, TicketID, Quantity) to a database management system. If thecorresponding broker/retail POS has not opted in to selling tickets viathe management system or has a rule that prohibits the sale of ticketsto the broker associated with the client ID, a failure will be returned.Otherwise, the tickets are placed on hold.

The retail POS (point of sale) verifies that the hold was placed on thetickets and communicates the hold verification to the inventorymanagement module that records the hold in its data store. The inventorymanagement system transmits an acknowledgement of the hold to the ordermanagement system. If the inventory management module does not receive aresponse from the POS or receives a failure message, the inventorymanagement module signals a failure to the order management system. Theorder management module communicates with the tax calculation module tocalculate the taxes, if any, on the order. The order management modulealso instructs the payment processing module to process the payment forthe ticket order. The order management module also transmits an orderacknowledgement/confirmation via one or more of the channels.Optionally, the order is guaranteed. The order management moduleoptionally coordinates the seeking and reporting of real-time ticketstatus from the broker system or other point of sale system. Optionally,orders routed via the order management module will take priority (have ahigher priority) over orders placed at approximately the same time viaother ordering systems. Optionally, orders routed via the ordermanagement module will have a lower priority relative to orders placedat approximately the same time via other ordering systems. If for somereason the purchase process fails, the order management systemcommunicates the failure to the inventory management module, and thehold is taken off the tickets. Otherwise, if the purchase process issuccessful, the order management system communicates the success to theinventory management module, and the tickets are marked as sold.

FIG. 14 illustrates example inventory controller 1402 components, clientservice agent 1406 components, and their interconnections with a network1404, a client service bus 1408 (an interface used to access real-timeservices), and a message library 1410 (which stores common definitionsfor messages used by real-time services.

The example host server-side inventory controller 1402 includes anintroducer (where the listing broker would initiate communications withthe management system by first communicating with the introducer andwhich tracks the health of the connection to corresponding brokers) areal time service agent (e.g., including a push service (e.g., a servicefor sending messages from the management system to one or more brokersystems, either to specific brokers or via a broadcast message to all(connected) broker systems or a subset thereof), a broadcast service,and an authentication service (to authenticate a given broker system andto determine if the broker system is authorized to communicate with thebroker system), and an inventory server (e.g., that searches andaccesses inventory data and implements business rules). The hostserver-side inventory controller 1402 receives and transmits messagesacross the network 1404 (e.g., the Internet or other network) with theclient service agent 1406. The real time client chat service agent 1406includes a keep alive client (that keeps the connection across thenetwork 1404 to the inventory controller 1402 alive), a broadcastclient, and a message client.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example message flow. User order parameters(e.g., specified event tickets, quantity, etc.) provided via an orderform is received by web services/internal, are then passed to an auctionmodule, which transmits messages associated with one or morecorresponding message classes to a quorum manager. The quorum managertransmits the message to web services/external, which formats themessage using XML. The XML formatted message is transmitted to theclient/agent, which is the received using EIBO and/or non-EIBO datastore.

Similarly, the EIBO and non-EIBO pass data back to the client/agent,which returns XML formatted messages to the web services/external, andso on.

FIG. 16 illustrates example optional services. An order is processed byan order service. The order is provided to an order dispatch servicethat transmits the order to an order processor that processes the order.

The broker client/agent includes a message dispatcher used to receive orsend messages (e.g., over a network). An update processor processesmessages which can be used to update ticket inventory records. A ticketorder processor service processes ticket order and communicates with theEIBO. A control processor processes messages as similarly describedabove (e.g., identifies whether the message is a request to access theinventory and/or to determine the availability of a particular ticket;identify a request to place a ticket on hold, or to mark a ticket ashaving been sold; and/or identify a request to mark a ticket asavailable after the ticket was placed on hold or marked as sold, etc.).

Thus, as described herein, certain embodiments provide systems andmethods for integrating multiple systems, including multiple proprietarysystems, while providing high-throughput, secure, real timecommunication (initiated by the host server or a client broker system),without exposing the client/broker system to other broker system.

Reference in this specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment”means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic describedin connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodimentof the disclosure. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” invarious places in the specification are not necessarily all referring tothe same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodimentsmutually exclusive of other embodiments. Moreover, various features aredescribed which may be exhibited by some embodiments and not by others.Similarly, various requirements are described which may be requirementsfor some embodiments but not other embodiments.

The terms used in this specification generally have their ordinarymeanings in the art, within the context of the disclosure, and in thespecific context where each term is used. Certain terms that are used todescribe the disclosure are discussed below, or elsewhere in thespecification, to provide additional guidance to the practitionerregarding the description of the disclosure. For convenience, certainterms may be highlighted, for example using italics and/or quotationmarks. The use of highlighting has no influence on the scope and meaningof a term; the scope and meaning of a term is the same, in the samecontext, whether or not it is highlighted. It will be appreciated thatsame thing can be said in more than one way.

Consequently, alternative language and synonyms may be used for any oneor more of the terms discussed herein, nor is any special significanceto be placed upon whether or not a term is elaborated or discussedherein. Synonyms for certain terms are provided. A recital of one ormore synonyms does not exclude the use of other synonyms. The use ofexamples anywhere in this specification including examples of any termsdiscussed herein is illustrative only, and in no way limits the scopeand meaning of the disclosure or of any exemplified term. Likewise, thedisclosure is not limited to various embodiments given in thisspecification.

Without intent to limit the scope of the disclosure, examples ofinstruments, apparatus, methods and their related results according tothe embodiments of the present disclosure are given below. Note thattitles or subtitles may be used in the examples for convenience of areader, which is in no way intended to limit the scope of thedisclosure. Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific termsused herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one ofordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure pertains. In the caseof conflict, the present document, including definitions will control.

Although embodiments have been described with reference to specificexemplary embodiments, it will be evident that the various modificationand changes can be made to these embodiments. Accordingly, thespecification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative senserather than in a restrictive sense. The foregoing specification providesa description with reference to specific exemplary embodiments. It willbe evident that various modifications may be made thereto withoutdeparting from the broader spirit and scope as set forth in the claims.The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in anillustrative sense rather than a restrictive sense.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for managing network communications,comprising: receiving a request for a first resource from a firstrequester at a resource management system, the resource managementsystem coupled to a first plurality of broker systems, wherein theresource management system is separate from the first plurality ofbroker systems, wherein at least one broker system in the firstplurality of broker systems is operated by a different entity than anentity operating the resource management system, and at least one brokersystem in the first plurality of broker systems maintains a differentinventory of resources than another broker system in the first pluralityof broker systems, and wherein at least one broker system in the firstplurality of broker system utilizes a different message format than atleast other broker system in the first plurality of broker systems;maintaining a resource data store storing resource identifiers andassociated statuses updated in substantially real time based on statusdata received from the first plurality of broker systems; identifying afirst broker system in the first plurality of broker systems controllingthe first resource using the resource data store; identifying a messageformat that will be understood by the first broker system based at leastin part on information obtained from a module associated with the firstbroker system; formatting a message in accordance with the identifiedmessage format of the first broker system, the message including anidentifier associated with the first resource and an identifierassociated with the first requester, wherein the message is configuredto cause, at least in part, the first resource to be marked as soldand/or on hold by the first broker system; at least partly causing themessage to be serialized, wherein the serialized message is transmittedover a network to the first broker system; receiving an indication viathe first broker system as to whether the first broker system has placeda hold on the first resource and/or marked the first resource as soldfor the first requester; and if an indication is received from the firstbroker system that a hold has been placed on the first resource for thefirst requester and/or the first resource has been marked as sold forthe first requester, at least partly causing the first resource to betransferred to the first requester.
 2. The method as defined in claim 1,the method further comprising, causing at least in part a first resourcerequest to be formatted as an XML message.
 3. The method as defined inclaim 1, the method further comprising causing the module to be providedvia the resource management system to one or more broker systems.
 4. Themethod as defined in claim 1, the method further comprises receiving anindication as to whether at least one resource request requested aquantity of resources that exceeds a broker specified maximum of offeredresources, wherein the offered resources are offered tickets.
 5. Themethod as defined in claim 1, the method further comprises receiving anindication as to whether at least one resource request requested aquantity of resources that was less than a broker specified minimum ofoffered resources, wherein the offered resources are offered tickets. 6.The method as defined in claim 1, the method further comprisingmaintaining a blacklist specified by at least one broker that indicateswhich potential purchasers are not permitted to obtain resources fromthe at least one broker.
 7. The method as defined in claim 1, the methodfurther comprising maintaining a blacklist specified by least one brokerthat indicates by name which potential purchasers are not permitted toobtain resources from the at least one broker.
 8. The method as definedin claim 1, the method further comprising maintaining a blacklistspecified by at least one broker that indicates by type of potentialpurchaser which potential purchasers are not permitted to obtainresources from the at least one broker.
 9. The method as defined inclaim 1, wherein the request specifies a quantity of resources greaterthan one.
 10. The method as defined in claim 1, the method furthercomprising assigning unique resource identifiers to correspondingresources from the first plurality of broker systems.
 11. The method asdefined in claim 1, wherein the first resource is an event admissionvoucher.
 12. The method as defined in claim 1, the method furthercomprising: providing an auto-updater module for the first brokersystem, the auto-updater module configured to perform operationscomprising: detecting a communication error between the first brokersystem and the resource management system; and at least partly inresponse to detecting the communication error between the first brokersystem and the resource management system, causing at least one softwareapplication or setting on the first broker system to be automaticallyupdated.
 13. The method as defined in claim 1, the method furthercomprising: providing software that receives an indication as to aconfiguration change on at least one broker system; and at least partlycausing the module associated with the first broker system to be updatedor replaced based at least in part on receiving an indication regardinga first configuration change of the first broker system.
 14. The methodas defined in claim 1, the method further comprising receiving anindication that a software configuration of the first broker system haschanged.
 15. A method for managing network communications, comprising:receiving at a resource management system over a network from a firstplurality of broker systems substantially real-time status informationregarding resources managed by respective broker systems in the firstplurality of broker systems, wherein the resource management system isseparate from the first plurality of broker systems, wherein at leastone broker system in the first plurality of broker systems is operatedby a different entity than an entity operating the resource managementsystem, and at least one broker system in the first plurality of brokersystems maintains a different inventory of resources than another brokersystem in the first plurality of broker systems; maintaining a resourcedata store storing resource identifiers and associated real-time statusinformation; receiving a request for a first resource from a firstrequester at the resource management system; identifying a first brokersystem in the first plurality of broker systems controlling the firstresource using the resource data store; formatting a message includingan identifier associated with the first resource and an identifierassociated with the first requester; transmitting the message over thenetwork to the first broker system; receiving an indication from thefirst broker system as to whether the first resource has been reservedfor the first requester; and if an indication is received from the firstbroker system that the first resource has been reserved for the firstrequester, facilitating the transfer of the first resource to the firstrequester.
 16. The method as defined in claim 15, transmitting codeconfigured to execute on the first broker system, wherein the code isconfigured to store an indication that a specified ticket is sold inresponse to a communication from the resource management system.
 17. Themethod as defined in claim 15, the method further comprising: monitoringthe communication status with the first plurality of broker systems; ifthe communication status of a given broker system is determined to beunsatisfactory, storing an indication that the status of resourcesmanaged by the given broker system is not reliable and inhibiting theoffering of resources from the given broker system.
 18. The method asdefined in claim 15, the method further comprising: receivingcommunication protocol information from a plurality of broker systems,wherein at least one broker system uses a different communicationprotocol than at least one other broker system; at least partly based onthe received protocol information, identifying a communication protocolassociated with the first broker system; and formatting the message inaccordance with the identified protocol and using information related tothe identified protocol in determining when a communications error hasoccurred with respect to the first broker system.
 19. The method asdefined in claim 15, wherein the first request specifies a quantity ofresources greater than one.
 20. The method as defined in claim 15,wherein the message is a serialized XML message.
 21. The method asdefined in claim 15, the method further comprising assigning uniqueresource identifiers to corresponding resources from the first pluralityof broker systems.
 22. The method as defined in claim 15, wherein thefirst resource is an event admission voucher.
 23. The method as definedin claim 15, wherein the first resource is a ticket.
 24. The method asdefined in claim 15, wherein the first resource is a ticket, wherein theticket includes an association between a user identification device anda right to access an event stored in a data store.
 25. The method asdefined in claim 15, the method further comprising providing an updatermodule for the first broker system, the updater module configured toperform operations comprising: detecting a communication error betweenthe first broker system and the resource management system; and at leastpartly in response to detecting the communication error between thefirst broker system and the resource management system, causing at leastone software application or setting on the first broker system to beautomatically updated.
 26. The method as defined in claim 15, the methodfurther comprising receiving an indication that a software configurationof the first broker system has changed.
 27. The method as defined inclaim 15, wherein a first request for at least one resource includes: aticket quantity; and a ticket identifier.
 28. The method as defined inclaim 15, wherein a first request for at least one resource includes: aseat section; a starting seat; and an ending seat.
 29. The method asdefined in claim 15, the method further comprising processing a firstplurality of ticket request responses from at least a first portion ofthe plurality of broker systems, wherein a first plurality of ticketresponses include the following status: success; insufficient quantity;requested tickets do not exist; requested tickets already on hold orsold.
 30. The method as defined in claim 15, the method furthercomprising processing at least one response to a resource request for aticket from at least one broker system indicating that seatscorresponding to the at least one request are contiguous.
 31. The methodas defined in claim 15, the method further comprising processing atleast one response to a resource request for a ticket from at least onebroker system indicating a ticket ship date.
 32. The method as definedin claim 15, the method further comprising processing at least oneresponse to a resource request for a ticket from at least one brokersystem indicating an order cross reference identifier.
 33. The method asdefined in claim 15, the method further comprising automaticallytracking the configuration or a of the first plurality of broker systemsand facilitating the provision of software updates to one or more of thefirst plurality of broker systems at least partly based on configurationchanges of the one or more of the first plurality of broker systems. 34.The method as defined in claim 15, the method further comprising:storing a plurality of rules defined by one or more brokers; receiving asecond request from a second requester for a second resource, whereinthe second requester is a broker; identifying a second ticket brokerthat controls the second resource; accessing a rule defined by thesecond broker, wherein the second broker defined rule indicates whetherthe second broker will approve an order from another broker; andapplying the second broker rule to the second request.
 35. The method asdefined in claim 15, the method further comprising providing informationregarding: the percentage and/or number of brokers available to acceptticket orders; and the percentage and/or number of brokers that have notreported information regarding their ticket inventory for one or morespecified periods of time.
 36. The method as defined in claim 15, themethod further comprising providing information regarding: thepercentage and/or number of brokers that have not upgraded a firstsoftware to a first software version; and the number of brokersutilizing a first version of the first software.
 37. The method asdefined in claim 15, the method further comprising providing informationregarding: a unique identifier associated with a first broker associatedwith the first broker system; and a time the first broker system lastconnected to and/or provided an inventory updates to the resourcemanagement system.
 38. The method as defined in claim 15, furthercomprising provide a report indicating the percent of tickets sold in aspecified time period using a specified process.
 39. The method asdefined in claim 15, further comprising provide a report indicating thepercent of an inventory of tickets that is eligible to be sold using aspecified process.
 40. The method as defined in claim 15, furthercomprising providing a report indicating the success rate for at least aportion of the first plurality of brokers relating to completion ofticket transactions.
 41. The method as defined in claim 15, furthercomprising provide a report indicating an amount of time that a givenbroker is connected to the management system.
 42. Programmatic codestored on a non-transitory computer readable medium, that when executedby a computing system comprising one or more computing devices isconfigured to cause the computing system perform operations comprising:receive from a first plurality of broker systems substantially real-timestatus information regarding resources managed by the first plurality ofbroker systems, wherein at least one broker system in the firstplurality of broker systems is separate from at least one other brokersystem in the first plurality of broker systems, and at least one brokersystem in the first plurality of broker systems uses a different messageformat than at least one other broker system in the first plurality ofbroker systems, and at least one broker system in the first plurality ofbroker systems maintains a different inventory of resources than anotherbroker system in the first plurality of broker systems; maintain aresource data store storing resource identifiers and associatedreal-time status information; receive a request for a first resourcefrom a first requester; identify a first broker system controlling thefirst resource using the resource data store; generate a messageincluding an identifier associated with the first resource and anidentifier associated with the first requester; transmit the message tothe first broker system; receive an indication as to whether the firstbroker system has made available the first resource to the firstrequester; and if an indication is received from the first broker systemthat the first broker system has made available the first resource tothe first requester, facilitate the transfer of the first resource tothe first requester.
 43. The programmatic code as defined in claim 42,wherein the programmatic code is further configured to cause thecomputing system to perform operations comprising: process at least oneresponse to a resource request for at least one ticket from at least onebroker system indicating that seats corresponding to the at least oneresource request for at least one ticket are contiguous.
 44. Theprogrammatic code as defined in claim 42, wherein the programmatic codeis further configured to cause the computing system to performoperations comprising: process at least one response to a resourcerequest for a ticket from at least one broker system indicating a ticketship date.
 45. The programmatic code as defined in claim 42, wherein theprogrammatic code is further configured to cause the computing system toperform operations comprising: process at least one response to aresource request for a ticket from at least one broker system indicatingan order cross reference identifier.
 46. The programmatic code asdefined in claim 42, wherein the programmatic code is further configuredto cause the computing system to perform operations comprising:automatically track the configuration of the first plurality of brokersystems and facilitate the provision of software updates to one or moreof the first plurality of broker systems at least partly based onconfiguration changes of the one or more of the first plurality ofbroker systems.
 47. The programmatic code as defined in claim 42,wherein the programmatic code is further configured to cause thecomputing system to perform operations comprising: to store a pluralityof rules defined by one or more brokers; receive a second request from asecond requester for a second resource, wherein the second requester isa broker; identify a second ticket broker that controls the secondresource; access a rule defined by the second broker, wherein the secondbroker defined rule indicates whether the second broker will approve anorder from another broker; and apply the second broker rule to thesecond request.
 48. The programmatic code as defined in claim 42,wherein the programmatic code is further configured to cause thecomputing system to perform operations comprising: provide informationregarding: the percentage and/or number of brokers available to acceptticket orders; and the percentage and/or number of brokers that have notreported information regarding their ticket inventory for one or morespecified periods of time.
 49. The programmatic code as defined in claim42, wherein the programmatic code is further configured to cause thecomputing system to perform operations comprising: provide informationregarding: the percentage and/or number of brokers that have notupgraded a first software to a first software version; and the number ofbrokers utilizing a first version of the first software.
 50. Theprogrammatic code as defined in claim 42, wherein the resources areevent tickets.
 51. A system for managing network communications,comprising: a computing device; programmatic code stored in anon-transitory computer readable medium, that when executed by acomputing system comprising one or more computing devices is configuredto cause the computing system to perform operations comprising:receiving a request for a first resource from a first requester at aresource management system, the resource management system coupled to afirst plurality of broker systems wherein at least one broker system inthe first plurality of broker systems is separate from at least oneother broker system in the first plurality of broker systems, and atleast one broker system in the first plurality of broker systems uses adifferent message format than at least one other broker system in thefirst plurality of broker systems, and at least one broker system in thefirst plurality of broker systems maintains a different inventory ofresources than another broker system in the first plurality of brokersystems; maintaining a resource data store storing resource identifiersand associated statuses updated in substantially real time based onstatus data received from the first plurality of broker systems;identifying a broker system controlling the first resource using theresource data store; identifying a message format that will beunderstood by the broker system based at least in part on informationobtained from a module associated with the broker system; formatting amessage in accordance with the identified message format, the messageincluding an identifier associated with the first resource and anidentifier associated with the first requester, wherein the messageinstructs the broker system to cause the first resource to be marked assold and/or on hold; transmitting the message over a network to thebroker system; receiving an indication via the broker system as towhether the broker system has placed a hold on the first resource and/ormarked the first resource as sold for the first requester; and if anindication is received from the broker system that a hold has beenplaced on the first resource for the first requester and/or the firstresource has been marked as sold for the first requester, at leastpartly causing the first resource to be transferred to the firstrequester.
 52. The system as defined in claim 51, the operations furthercomprising, causing at least in part a first resource request to beformatted as an XML message.
 53. The system as defined in claim 51, theoperations further comprising causing the module to be provided via theresource management system to one or more broker systems.
 54. The systemas defined in claim 51, the operations further comprises receiving anindication as to whether at least one resource request requested aquantity of resources that exceeds a broker specified maximum of offeredresources, wherein the offered resources comprise offered tickets. 55.The system as defined in claim 51, the operations further comprisesreceiving an indication as to whether at least one resource requestrequested a quantity of resources that was less than a broker specifiedminimum of offered resources, wherein the offered resources compriseoffered tickets.
 56. The system as defined in claim 51, the operationsfurther comprising maintaining a blacklist specified by at least onebroker that indicates which potential purchasers are not permitted toobtain resources from the at least one broker.
 57. The system as definedin claim 51, the operations further comprising maintaining a blacklistspecified by least one broker that indicates by name which potentialpurchasers are not permitted to obtain resources from the at least onebroker.
 58. The system as defined in claim 51, the operations furthercomprising maintaining a blacklist specified by at least one broker thatindicates by type of potential purchaser which potential purchasers arenot permitted to obtain resources from the at least one broker.
 59. Thesystem as defined in claim 51, wherein the request specifies a quantityof resources greater than one.
 60. The system as defined in claim 51,the operations further comprising assigning unique resource identifiersto corresponding resources from the first plurality of broker systems.61. The system as defined in claim 51, wherein the first resource is anevent admission voucher.
 62. The system as defined in claim 51, theoperations further comprising providing a module for the broker system,the updater module configured to perform operations comprising:detecting a communication error between the broker system and theresource management system; and at least partly in response to detectingthe communication error between the broker system and the resourcemanagement system, causing at least one software application or settingon the broker system to be automatically updated.
 63. The system asdefined in claim 51, the operations further comprising: providingsoftware that receives an indication as to a configuration change on atleast one broker system; and at least partly causing the module on theat least one at least one broker system for which an indication of aconfiguration change has been received to be updated or replaced basedat least in part on receiving an indication regarding a firstconfiguration change regarding the at least one broker system.
 64. Thesystem as defined in claim 51, the operations further comprisingreceiving an indication that a software configuration of the brokersystem has changed.
 65. Programmatic code stored in a non-transitorycomputer readable medium, that when executed by a computing systemcomprising one or more computing devices is configured to cause thecomputing system to perform operations comprising: receiving a requestfor a first resource from a first requester at a resource managementsystem, the resource management system coupled to a plurality of brokersystems, wherein the resource management system is separate from thefirst plurality of broker systems, and at least one broker system in thefirst plurality of broker systems maintains a different inventory ofresources than another broker system in the first plurality of brokersystems, and wherein at least one broker system in the first pluralityof broker system utilizes a different message format than at least otherbroker system in the first plurality of broker systems; maintaining aresource data store storing resource identifiers and associated statusesupdated in substantially real time based on status data received fromthe first plurality of broker systems; identifying a broker systemcontrolling the first resource using the resource data store;identifying a message format that will be understood by the brokersystem based at least in part on information obtained from a moduleassociated with the broker system; formatting a message in accordancewith the identified message format, the message including an identifierassociated with the first resource and an identifier associated with thefirst requester, wherein the message instructs the broker system tocause the first resource to be marked as sold and/or on hold;transmitting the message over a network to the broker system; receivingan indication via the broker system as to whether the broker system hasplaced a hold on the first resource and/or marked the first resource assold for the first requester; and if an indication is received from thebroker system that a hold has been placed on the first resource for thefirst requester and/or the first resource has been marked as sold forthe first requester, at least partly causing the first resource to betransferred to the first requester.
 66. The programmatic code as definedin claim 65, the operations further comprising, causing at least in parta first resource request to be formatted as an XML message.
 67. Theprogrammatic code as defined in claim 65, the operations furthercomprising causing the module to be provided via the resource managementsystem to one or more broker systems.
 68. The programmatic code asdefined in claim 65, the operations further comprises receiving anindication as to whether at least one resource request requested aquantity of resources that exceeds a broker specified maximum of offeredresources, wherein the offered resources comprise offered tickets. 69.The programmatic code as defined in claim 65, the operations furthercomprises receiving an indication as to whether at least one resourcerequest requested a quantity of resources that was less than a brokerspecified minimum of offered resources, wherein the offered resourcescomprise offered tickets.
 70. The programmatic code as defined in claim65, the operations further comprising maintaining a blacklist specifiedby at least one broker that indicates which potential purchasers are notpermitted to obtain resources from the at least one broker.
 71. Theprogrammatic code as defined in claim 65, the operations furthercomprising maintaining a blacklist specified by least one broker thatindicates by name which potential purchasers are not permitted to obtainresources from the at least one broker.
 72. The programmatic code asdefined in claim 65, the operations further comprising maintaining ablacklist specified by at least one broker that indicates by type ofpotential purchaser which potential purchasers are not permitted toobtain resources from the at least one broker.
 73. The programmatic codeas defined in claim 65, wherein the request specifies a quantity ofresources greater than one.
 74. The programmatic code as defined inclaim 65, the operations further comprising assigning unique resourceidentifiers to corresponding resources from the first plurality ofbroker systems.
 75. The programmatic code as defined in claim 65,wherein the first resource is an event admission voucher.
 76. Theprogrammatic code as defined in claim 65, the operations furthercomprising providing a module for the broker system, the updater moduleconfigured to perform operations comprising: detecting a communicationerror between the broker system and the resource management system; andat least partly in response to detecting the communication error betweenthe broker system and the resource management system, causing at leastone software application or setting on the broker system to beautomatically updated.
 77. The programmatic code as defined in claim 65,the operations further comprising: providing software that receives anindication as to a configuration change on at least one broker system;and at least partly causing the module on the broker system to beupdated or replaced based at least in part on receiving an indicationregarding a first configuration change of the broker system.
 78. Theprogrammatic code as defined in claim 65, the operations furthercomprising receiving an indication that a software configuration of thebroker system has changed.